Old Laptop - Black Screen [SOLVED]

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jp734
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Old Laptop - Black Screen [SOLVED]

#1 Post by jp734 »

I have a Dell Precision M90 that comes with Intel Centrino dual core 2Ghz, 1GB ram, ATI X300 video card. A 64 bit processor and PAE capable

This is a friend of mine who ask if I can revive it for him. I downloaded the latest lubuntu, I figured puppy linux will be a little to technical for him at this point, but it will not boot at all. Yes, I confirmed the MD5SUM after downloading. So I tried my working flash drive with puppy precise but it gave me a black screen. The only distros that work and was able to install completely at this point are Slitaz 3.0 and Ubuntu 7 but they are really old and wanted a more up to date one. The only thing I can think of is they both have 2.6 kernel versions.

Anyways, after I installed the ubuntu 7, I edited the grub/menu.lst and created entries for puppy linux(es). I tried tahrpup 32 bit, puppy precise 32 bit, xenial 32 bit and xenial 64 bit. They all gave black screen with "nomodeset" added on kernel line. Now I know they booted all the way as I hear the bark/beep but no luck with video. When I press power button, it will beep/bark again and then shutdown

What boot option can I add to the command to get this working?
What distro would you recommend for the laptop?

Thanks
Last edited by jp734 on Sat 04 May 2019, 00:00, edited 1 time in total.

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bigpup
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#2 Post by bigpup »

If it is ATI graphics hardware.

Any of the Puppy installs boot loader menu entries.

Try this option on the end of the kernel line

Code: Select all

radeon.modeset=0
"nomodeset" is not used in Puppy.
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jp734
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Old Laptop - Black Screen [SOLVED]

#3 Post by jp734 »

Thanks bigpup....that did the trick

So.trying to understand, is it because new distros use "radeon" as the driver by default and what you did was force it to use "ati" instead because of how old the video card is? Would it have given the same result if I added "blacklist=radeon" on the line? Also, if I recall, I also tried "radeon,nomodeset=1" at one point and still got black screen. What's the difference between the two commands?

MORE RESEARCH (LEARNING) :-)

I've only tried it on tahrpup by the way but i don't see why it will not work on the rest.

Thanks again...

[EDIT] Sorry....did not see the last part of your post "nomodeset" not used on puppy

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bigpup
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#4 Post by bigpup »

Radeon is the ATI hardware driver.
The brand was previously only known as "ATI Radeon" until August 2010, when it was renamed to increase AMD's brand awareness on a global scale.[2] Products up to and including the HD 5000 series are branded as ATI Radeon, while the HD 6000 series and beyond use the new AMD Radeon branding.[3]
It is all about how well the hardware supports KMS
(kernel mode setting)

modeset=0 (do not use KMS)

modeset=1 (use KMS)

By default Puppy is set to modeset=1

If you want to know more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_setting
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Burn_IT
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#5 Post by Burn_IT »

I think the Dell Precision uses the internal CPU Intel driver when on battery and just doing standard light graphics work, but switches to an Nvidia card for heavy use and on the mains.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett

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bigpup
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#6 Post by bigpup »

No Nvidia hardware in the posted specs.
Says it has ATI hardware.

If radeon.modest=0 worked.
That indicates it is using the ATI hardware.

I do not think this processor has internal Intel graphics.
Not seeing any listed in the processor specs at Intel.
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jp734
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#7 Post by jp734 »

Understand the KMS more.

Yes, it is an ATI Mobility X300. Strange coz all the online searched I did resulted on this laptop having an NVidia card. Did not find, not one, having ati card on them. This must be ONE in a million LOL :D

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#8 Post by bigpup »

Probably could not get the Nvidia hardware when it was made. :idea:
Someone changed the hardware to ATI. :idea:

Dell got a good deal on the ATI hardware. :idea: :shock:

OH NO! You got one of those things!!!!! :lol:
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Burn_IT
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#9 Post by Burn_IT »

I seem to remember you had a choice of which adapter you had - though I may be mistaken.
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jp734
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#10 Post by jp734 »

Another question

Am I stuck with a 1024x768 resolution because of modeset=0?

I've been researching and found a option I can add on the kernel line: video=radeonfb:1440x900. They said you can combine the command with nomodeset but I still get the low res. I've also tried the vga=799 and same result. With ubuntu 7, I have this at the highest res of 1440x900

I just want to get this to the way I want before returning to the owner and have this weekend to try.

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bigpup
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#11 Post by bigpup »

Let us see what driver is being used.
menu>System>Pup-Sysinfo>Devices>Display>Video-Info

What driver is it showing being used?
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jp734
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#12 Post by jp734 »

This is what menu>System>Pup-Sysinfo>Devices>Display>Video-Info says:
VIDEO REPORT: xenialpup64, version 7.5

Chip description:
VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV370/M22 [Mobility Radeon X300]

Requested by /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Resolution (widthxheight, in pixels): 1440x900
Modules requested to be loaded: synaptics dbe
Drivers requested to be loaded: ati

Probing Xorg startup log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log):
Driver loaded (and currently in use): ati
Loaded modules: dbe ddc fb fbdevhw glx int10 kbd mouse shadow synaptics vbe vesa

Actual rendering on monitor:
Resolution: 1024x768 pixels (372x232 millimeters)
Depth: 24 planes

...the above also recorded in /tmp/report-video
but I think VESA is being used clearly not 1440x900 res as reported above (from Xorg.0.log):
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Built-in mode "1024x768"
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Built-in mode "800x600"
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Built-in mode "640x480"
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Built-in mode "640x400"
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Built-in mode "512x384"
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): Display dimensions: (370, 230) mm
[ 26.031] (**) VESA(0): DPI set to (70, 84)
[ 26.031] (II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 75Hz refresh for mode "1024x768" (123)
[ 26.031] (II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 72Hz refresh for mode "800x600" (122)
[ 26.032] (II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 73Hz refresh for mode "640x480" (121)
[ 26.032] (**) VESA(0): Using "Shadow Framebuffer"
There is also an xorg.conf and I can change the driver to ati or radeon. If I run Puppy First Run Settings, it will also say ati or radeon being used, depending on what I typed on xorg.conf, but xorg.0.log still says vesa

xrandr also report max 1024x768

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rcrsn51
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#13 Post by rcrsn51 »

Support for these old video cards is disappearing from the kernel and Xorg.

If the radeon modesetting driver doesn't work, I believe that the only alternative is a fall-back to VESA.

So you are limited to the resolutions allowed by VESA, as shown in xrandr.

I have never had any luck trying to force a higher resolution.

However, run "dmesg" and check for any errors that might be associated with the radeon driver, like missing firmware.

jp734
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#14 Post by jp734 »

Well, I ran dmesg and did not see any error related to radeon driver. At least we got his computer going and usable again. He'll be able to browse web safer, email and use libreoffice.

Thanks all for your help. Really appreciate it!

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#15 Post by bigpup »

If you use Tahrpup 6.0.5

It has a lot of pre-built pet packages for adding different AMD/ATI drivers.
Just make sure to get the correct one for the kernel being used.

On the desktop is an icon for the Quickpet program.
Look in it for the driver.
It should, well maybe should, only offer the correct driver for the kernel in use.

Changing to a different AMD/ATI driver may help.
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8Geee
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Drivers from Slacko5.7

#16 Post by 8Geee »

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong "Black Screen" thread.

Correctly placed, here are some driver-file listings to search for in puppy. If they are not there, then theres a link to a group that might help.

I did find some drivers in Slacko5.7

/usr/lib/xorg/drivers/ati_drv.so
/usr/lib/xorg/drivers/radeon_drv.so
/usr/lib/xorg/dri/r300_dri.so
/usr/lib/xorg/dri/radeon_dri.so

I have packed these up as a tgz zip file. Please refer to the pathways shown here or in the Read1st text file included.
When asked to extract, change the location according to the files above. It will either be

/usr/lib/xorg/drivers/
OR
/usr/lib/xorg/dri/
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jp734
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#17 Post by jp734 »

Tried tahrpup as suggested and installed amd driver using quickpet and got black screen. Played with it for a good while with no luck and had to stop. Returned the laptop today with xenial 64. 1024x768 wasn't bad really. Sometimes we just have to accept defeat. :(

8Geee - sorry the pc was returned already or I would have tried your suggestion.

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#18 Post by rcrsn51 »

According to the Debian repo, the radeon driver "should" support your X300 card and its RV370 chipset.

But it sounds like it really doesn't and probably hasn't in a while.

jp734
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#19 Post by jp734 »

I believe it does as well coz when xorg.conf was set to use radeon as the driver, I ran the 'lspci -k" command, it showed me radeon as being used but I don't understand why Xorg.0.log always showed VESA no matter what I did. When typed pfix=ram on boot, the first run "setup" window showed ATI driver being used.

Maybe if he asks me to play around with it more, I'll have better luck.

By the way, what's the difference between ATI and RADEON drivers

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#20 Post by bigpup »

By the way, what's the difference between ATI and RADEON drivers
Nothing.
AMD, when started, called Graphics hardware by ATI product name.
A few years back they changed to calling graphics hardware Radeon.

Well, I guess the drivers (that have ATI in the name) are made when stuff was called ATI. So, those are the older drivers.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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